10
Wednesday, March 30. 1977
University Dally Kansan
Weather service requests funds
Staff Reporter
Bv MARY RINTOUI
A campus weather service, run by University of Kansas graduate students, has become increasingly popular in the last month, but the service will come to a halt at the end of April if the Student Senate requested allocations for the service.
Larry Cosgrove, Jeffersonville, Pa., graduate student, said Friday that he had asked the Senate for $10,542 to buy equipment necessary to provide accurate weather information. The request is the result of a budget hearings, which began this week.
Cogrove began thinking about the college he attended more than a month ago, he asked Donald Alderson, acting vice chancellor for student affairs, for money to get the service off the ground.
ALDERSON GAVE Cosgrove $135 from the Kansas University Endowment Association fund, which will keep the service in operation until the end of April. Then the Alden Weatherfax machine will shut down unless money is appropriated.
The Weatherfax machine receives pictures from the National Weather Service Data Information Center in Maryland which Cosgrove and other graduate students predict the weather with some accuracy.
However, additional equipment is needed so the service can provide more accurate information.
"We need a radar facsimile, a teletype from Kansas City, and satellite information," he said, with these machines installed within 10 to 15 minutes of its buildup.
"People coming to Lawrence want to know what they can expect in the way of what is going on."
The possibility of receiving the requested funds for the service is alim. Carrove said.
COSGROVE SAID the service received 45
50 calls a day, with some calls coming
from other regions.
"It does have a chance," he said. "Some of the new senators have more sense than it."
Cogrove, who did some lobbying before the Senate elections last month, said Steve Leben, student body president, probably oppose funding for the weather service.
KU asks for state's okay to write-off $800,000 debt
The University of Kansas last week requested final approval from the state division of accounts and reports to write off more than $800,000 in uncollectible debts.
The Board of Regents had approved the request at its March 18 meeting.
The majority of the debts were from the KU Medical Center, which reported $782,681 worth of unpaid bills. Most of the bills were for indigestion care and outpatient service.
Trom Gresson, KU associate director for business affairs, said the write-offs represented 2.5 per cent of the Med Center's gross hospital charges for the fiscal year 2018. The rest were the last three years, when losses ranged from 2.5 to 2.8 per cent of gross hospital charges.
THE LAWRENCE campus had $39,194 in uncollected debts, including $19,869 in unpaid residence hall and tuition fees and $12,775 in unpaid parking and traffic fines. In library fines, health service fees and book fees also were included in the total.
Kansas statutes provide that state agencies can submit any uncollectible debts to the state division of accounts and reports for write-offs. But KU first must submit the debts to the Regents for approval each March.
Martin Jones, KU associate director for business affairs, said KU was forced to write off debts every year, but only after a strong effort was made to collect them.
"THE ONLY debts we request to be written off are on students who haven't attended KU for more than three years," he said.
KU sends letters asking for payment to people with outstanding debt. If the letters are not received, KU will not send them.
are turned over to one of two collection agencies under contract to the state of
Richard Steffen, manager of student accounts, said many of the people just "disappeared." Many others declare they have impossible to collect debts from them.
Jones said that the over-all University budget wasn't affected by the lost money, but that the lost money had to be made up somehow.
"For example, if students, faculty and staff don't pay their parking fees, the rest are left."
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From page one
LEATHERMAN said that 90 per cent of the checks returned for insufficient funds the second time were cleared, but that after the second time the store would use a photo and send information to a collection agency. He said that Research and Data, a Topela company, was a check collection agency used by Lawrence supermarkets.
He said that students were good risks because if a student's check bounces, the parents, who often share a checking account with the student, will pay the amount owed.
Leatherman said he had more trouble collecting money from other Lawrence residents who write bad checks, because they often didn't have the money. He said he was writing to a family in need with a number of bad checks Falley's has received in about the last six months, however.
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"I TAKLED to Steve before he was elected and he said he'd probably be against the idea," Cosgray said. "Steve said that I wasn't wasten't who totally student-oriented."
To that statement Cosgrove replied,
"Ww shut out nose outside of KU?"
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Leben said yesterday that based on the weather conditions, he would oppose funding weather service, he would oppose funding the agency.
"If the committee can give reasons not to know me why the service should receive payment, then I will be happy."
Leben advised Congrove to seek other forms of support, including using the Internet.
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But Cosgrove said that going through University channels was time-consuming.
with live entertainment
All budget requests go to the services committee before going to the Senate.
LEBEN ALSO suggested that Coogresw try to sell the weather service to area radio stations and use that money to support the service.
9 pm-Midnight
Mike Tarabolous, services committee chairman, said yesterday that the committee would try to decide whether the other service would provide a service to KU.
He said several budget cuts would be made. Fifteen organizations are requesting a total of $65,460 but the committee has only $34,701 to spend.
"The service could be valuable to farmers who want precise information about moisture for their crops and other weather information," he said.
COSGROVE GAVE several reasons why he thought the service needed all the money
Congreve said that people not connected with the University also could profit from
Cogrove said that during spring break, students called to ask about the weather in August.
"We need the weather service now," he said. "If there was a tornado, we could warm students in residence hall and prevent serious injuries for them. We need the emergency service to get people to take cover, and with our weather service we could do that."
"MY FORECAST was right because people were snowbound outside of Colorado."
Cosgrove contends that there are additional reasons why the equipment is needed.
Undergraduate students need the experience the machines would give them, he said. The teletep machine would introduce a new type of weather forecast that's used by the weather forecasters.
"The satellite and radar equipment would give information from ground level and
aircraft."
Cosgrove said that the weather service wouldn't cost Lawrence residents anything, but that a call to the National Weather Service in Topeka does cost.
Cogrove admitted that there weren't many options left except to hope for money or get a job.
"BESIDES, THE people in Topea aren't willing to take the time to help anyone out, not even us," be said. "We're more happy to let them do that, and then let them know what's happening."
"We might have a chance there," he said.
"We thought about applying for a grant, but because the service isn't a research project we can't."
Weather information provided by the service can be heard every day on KJHK,
Cogrove said the Senate should keep one thing in mind when discussing funding for the project.
"If the project fails, we'll be the first ones to admit it," he said. "However, the money wouldn't be wasted because all the equipment can be returned and the Senate
Cosgrove said he'd negotiate with other Lawrence radio stations and provide them with weather information if the money was allocated by the Senate.
If the Senate allocates only half the funds, Congruence will still go ahead with the plan.
"WE NEED ALL the money, though," he said. "I'm not one to give up easily, but I think the spirit of the project would be lost if we only received half of the money."
If the Senate rejects all funding for the service, Cosgrove said he might go to the Lawrence City Commission to ask for funding.
The weather service is located in 428 Lindsey and weather information can be received from the Weather Bureau.
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Staff photo
Weather Predictors
Larry Cosgrove, Jeffersonville, Pa., graduate student, holds a weather map picture that is received from the National Weather Service Data Information Center in Maryland. The campus weather service is located in Lindley Hall and is run by a group of University of Kansas graduate students.
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